(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of processing a silver halide color photosensitive material. In particular, the present invention relates to a rapid processing method which is capable of reducing the development time.
(2) Prior Art
Various methods have been proposed for reducing the processing time of color photosensitive materials. For example, methods wherein the color development time, bleach-fixing time, washing-with-water time or stabilization processing time is reduced have been proposed. In the method of reducing the color development time, a development accelerator is usually employed. However, it has been found to be difficult to greatly reduce the development time by this method.
Another method of reducing the development time comprises changing the type of the silver halide contained in the photosensitive material to be processed. Although the color development time can be reduced by using a silver halide having a high chlorine content as in the methods described in, for example, Japanese Patent Public Disclosure Nos. 58-95345, 59-23234 and 60-19140, these methods have a problem in that when the sensitive material is processed with a developer containing hydroxylamine used heretofore as a preservative, fog is caused during the development and the coloring of the color coupler is seriously inhibited. In particular, when the photosensitive material is processed with a developer free of benzyl alcohol which is contained in most developers, but which causes environmental pollution and which poses problems in the preparation of the developer, the inhibition of the coloring is further accelerated. On the other hand, when a hydroxylamine-free developer is used for the development, the stability of the developer is reduced and the photosensitive material cannot be processed continuously for a long period of time.